Sample can handling mechanism



May 21, 1963 w. D. EGNOR ETAL 3,

SAMPLE CAN HANDLING MECHANISM Filed Oct. 29, 1952 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 L l W J 1% a w INVENTORS MZlzaflz 22 .6 2 0) Y 60/11 07: ,5". 07711716 B May 21, 1963 w. D. EGNOR ETAL SAMPLE CAN HANDLING MECHANISM 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 29, 1952 T95 -||IIIIIHIIIHHIIIIIHHTHr F1E.E

May 21, 1963 w. D. EGNOR ETAL 3,090,480

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May 21, 1963 w. D EGNOR ETAL SAMPLE CAN HANDLING MECHANISM 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Oct. 29, 1952 INVENTORE United States Patent 3,090,480 SAMPLE CAN HANDLING MEIJHANISM William D. Egnor, Schenectady, and Gordon L. Romme, Scotia, N.Y., assignors to the United States of America as represented by the United States Atomic Energy Commission Filed Oct. 29, 1952, Ser. No. 317,502 3 Claims. (Cl. 198209) This invention relates generally to remotely operated manipulative devices, and in particular it pertains to a turntable assembly used in conjunction with the processing of radioactive or otherwise toxic material.

In recent years a need has developed for equipment by means of which toxic materials can be handled in safety by remote control. In certain operations containers containing liquid material must be opened, the contents stirred, sampled, weighed and removed, after which the emptied container must be washed and removed for survey.

It is an object of this invention to provide a remotely operated device for moving a container in succession from station to station and to hold the container in position at each station while the desired operation is being performed.

More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide an enclosed, remotely operated turntable assembly for supporting a plurality of containers. The assembly is capable of both vertical and rotational movement and is equipped with means which limit the rotational movements to predetermined angular increments and means which prevent rotation of the turntable while the container is at a work station.

The invention may be more fully understood by reference to the attached drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic elevational drawing showing the overall relationship of the turntable assembly with its surrounding hood and associated equipment for opening the containers, stirring, weighing, and the like.

FIG. 2 is a schematic plan view of the device shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic elevational view showing the loading mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the turntable assembly.

FIG. 5 is a cross section of the turntable assembly taken along line VVV--VV of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a cross section of the bearing block shown in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged plan view of the turntable rotating mechanism.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged view of the turntable rotating pawl;

FIG. 9 is a detailed view of the slotted pawl finger of FIG. 8, and

FIG. 10 is a side View of the turntable rotating pawl block showing the pawl blade.

The arrangement of the turntable of the present invention is shown generally in FIG. 1. The turntable assembly 10 is located entirely within an enclosing protective housing 11. A portion of the latter is divided by a horizontal partition 12 into an upper and a lower zone. The former contains a motor driven wrench for opening containers held on the turntable; means for agitating and adding or withdrawing liquid from the opened containers, jack for raising and lowering the agitator into the liquid, a balance for weighing and stations for loading and unloading containers used in the processing.

As shown in FIG. 3 an air lock door 13 in the housing permits access to the loading hook 14, which operates in the manner of an ordinary extension ladder. An additional air lock door '15 is provided to cover a circular opening in the horizontal partition 12 for loading purposes. This door is normally kept closed and may be interlocked mechanically with door 13 so that it may be opened by remote control only when door 13 is closed. Empty containers may be removed from the turntable at the end of the cycle by any suitable means; for example an electrically operated crane indicated schematically at 16 (FIG. 3) may be used for this purpose horizontal and vertical lead screws being employed to move an automatic hook 17 into engagement with lugs 19 on container 20 to remove the same from the turntable.

The turntable assembly which forms the subject matter of the present invention is shown in detail in FIGS. 4-10 inclusive. With particular reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, the assembly includes a vertical base member which is made up of a base plate 21 which may be provided with a central circular opening (not shown) for ease of assembly. The base plate is provided with suitable holes 22 for bolting the plate to its supporting surface. Four vertical posts 23 are screwed to the base plate and serve as supporting members for four side plates 24 which are welded thereto, forming a box-like vertical turntable supporting base approximately square in cross section. An annular bearing plate 25 is held by means of four cap screws 26 to the upper ends of the four vertical posts 23. Depending from the bearing plate by means of cap screws 27 is an air cylinder 28 of conventional design. Suitable connections for operating the cylinder is provided at 29 and extend through the enclosing housing to a source of compressed air.

Mounted on the upper surface of the bearing plate are three bearing blocks 30 upon which the turntable rests when in its lowered position as shown in FIG. 5. As shown in detail in FIG. 6 each bearing block comprises a lower cylindrical plug 31 which fits into a circular opening in the bearing plate and is held in position by a set screw 32 (FIG. 5). The upper portion 33 of the block is likewise generally cylindrical -in shape and is bored at 34 to receive a shaft 35 upon which a ball bearing 36 is mounted. The shaft 35 is disposed radially of the bearing plate (FIG. 4) so that the turntable can be easily rotated when in its lowered position as shown in FIG. 5.

The turntable disc 37 (FIGS. 4 and 5) and its backing disc 38 are mounted on the piston 39 of the air cylinder by means of jam nuts 40. Equally spaced at 20 intervals around the periphery of the turntable are eighteen notches '41 (FIG. 4) with which the turntable rotating mechanism comes into engagement when the turntable is moved angularly. Nine large circular openings 42 are arranged at equally spaced intervals around the turntable 37. Each opening 42 receives a cradle assembly 43 consist-ing of an annular plate 44 secured by four cap screws 45 to the turntable. The inner periphery of plate 44 is notched at four points 46 for cooperation with specially designed containers. Four dowels 47 depending from the plate 44 support a bottom plate 48. A coil spring 49 covered by a cap 50 and anchored by a screw 51 to the bottom plate 48 serves as a means of obtaining a good seal at the top of the containers with plate 12, allowing for differences in heights of the containers, when the turntable is in the raised position (FIG. 1).

The turntable rotating mechanism is supported on a pair of brackets 52 which are secured by cap screws 53 to the four vertical posts of the turntable support. A pair of angles 54 secured to the outer ends of brackets 52 support the turntable rotating assembly. The latter consists of a base plate 55 (FIG. 7) provided with a longitudinal groove 56.

A bracket 57 is mounted by screws at one end of the base plate 55. The bracket is threaded to receive a stop 58, a set screw being provided at 59 to hold the stop in position. Extending axially through the stop S 8 is a guide rod 6!). One end of this rod is provided with a shouldered cap 61 to receive a coil spring 62, whereas the opposite end of the guide rod is threaded for a hex nut 63. The opposite end of the coil spring 62 bears against an adjusting nut 64 which is pinned to the stop 58 by a set screw 65.

The rotating mechanism is actuated by an air cylinder 66 of conventional design (FIG. 4) mounted on the base plate by means of brackets 67, 68 and cap screws 6&9 and 70. Air pressure in cylinder 66 actuates the turntable rotating pawl 71 the blade 72 of which reciprocates in the groove 56 of the base plate.

The pawl 71 is shown in detail in FIGS. 8, 9 and 10. As shown in FIG. 8, the pawl consists of a generally L- shaped assembly 73, the longer arm of which is made hollow to accommodate a coiled spring 74. This spring maintains an outward pressure on pawl finger 75, the latter being slotted at 76 as shown in FIG. 9 to accommodate a dowel pin 77 which serves to hold the pawl finger and spring in position while permitting the former to move inwardly and outwardly. The shorter arm 78 of the pawl assembly is bored for connection with the piston of the air cylinder 66. The pawl blade 72, which moves in slot 56, is shown in FIG. 10. In operation the pawl finger engages one of the notches 41 in the periphery of the turntable and in moving forward, rotates the turntable until the pawl comes to rest against the stop 58 and its related adjusting nut, guide and spring.

A second pawl 79 serves to hold the turntable against rotational movement while the rotating pawl 71 is being withdrawn. This second pawl consists of an arm 80 terminating at its outer end in a pawl pin 81 (FIGS. 4, and 7), which is biased by a spring 82 into engagement with the turntable periphery. The spring ,82 is bent around the pawl lever, then coiled around the pawl bearing 83 and bent around a pin extending upwardly from the base plate 55. The bearing 83 consists of a hollow cylindrical extension at right angles to the pawl arm. The bearing fits over a pin (not shown) projecting upwardly from the base plate 55, and is secured thereto by a screw ing forward. Such action causes the links to move to the left (FIG. 7) thereby causing the pawl arm to rotate clockwise to disengage the pawl pin from the peripheral notches in the turntable. A spring 90 serves to keep the dowel 88 normally in contact with the pawl arm as shown in FIG. 7 and to restore the links to this position once the pawl blade 72 has broken engagement with the hearing '89 in moving to the right of FIG. 7.

In operation, the loading door 13 is opened and a sealed container is manually loaded on the loading hook (FIG. 3). Door 13 is then closed and air lock door 15 is opened by remote control. By remote control the container is lowered by a jack through the partition 12 and into a cradle of the turntable assembly. The loading hook is then disengaged from lugs v19 on the container and retracted, after which the door 15 is remotely closed.

The turntable is now ready for rotation. This is accomplished by the turntable rotating pawl 71, the spring loaded finger of which drops into notch 41 of the turntable and moves the latter in a clockwise direction (FIG. 4) under the action of air pressure in cylinder 66. Movement continues until the pawl 71 comes to rest against the spring loaded stop assembly. At'this point in the cycle the'pin 81 of the turntable holding pawl drops into a notch 41 under the pressure of the spring 82 (FIG. 5). This holds the turntable against backward movement while the rotating pawl 71 is being retracted by its piston. On the next forward movement of the rotating pawl 71, the pin 81 is automatically released from its notch to permit further rotation of the turntable. This release is accomplished when the pawl blade 72 engages the bearing 89 and moves links 86 in a clockwise direction (FIGS. 4 and 7) to bring the dowel pin 88 to bear against the lower portion of the holding pawl arm 80. The notches may be arranged as desired, however, in the illustrative embodiment of this invention, they are placed at 20 intervals so that each stroke of the pawl 71 rotates the turntable by this amount.

The present turntable is arranged for nine containers. Any one of the containers may be moved into any of one of five working stations which comprise three cutting stations, one loading station, and one weighing station. When the turntable has been rotated by this amount, by operation of pawl 71 it is elevated by the piston 39 of air cylinder :28. This raises the turntable off the bearing blocks 30 (FIGS. 5 and 6), the turntable being held against rotation by means of a pin 91 (FIG. 1) attached attached to the partition 12 and arranged to pass through one of the holes 92 in the turntable (FIGS. 4 and 5). Upward movement of the turntable continues until the containers come into contact with the cutting stations (FIG. 2). The containers are guided into the cutting station by the guide 94 (FIG. 1). At this position a gasket on the container makes the seal with the partition plates. The container may now be opened by means, for example, of a remotely controlled wrench. When the desired operation is completed the turntable is lowered until it again rests upon its bearing blocks. It may then be moved by the turntable rotating mechanism to position the container for the next operation. A number of operations may be performed by auxiliary equipment at the several work stations. These operations may include filling or siphoning liquids into or out of the container, stirring the contents of the container with a remotely driven agitator or the like.

In the event that it is desired to weigh the container and its contents, a weighing station may be provided as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2. This operation requires lifting the container out of its cradle by means of a weighing hook attached to a conventional beam balance. The lugs 19 on the container engage the weighing hook as the turntable is raised. The turntable i then lowered, leaving the container suspended from the weighing hook. When the weighing is completed, the container is disengaged from the Weighing hook by raising the turntable until it lifts the container beyond the hooking position, thereby automatically opening the weighing books. The disengaged container is then free to be lowered and ro tated to the next station. When the cycle of operations is completed, the container 20 may be removed from the turntable by means of unloading hook 17 mounted on crane arm '16 (FIG. 3).

Subsequent to loading the container on the loading hook, the operation of the turntable throughout its cycle can be controlled by an operator working in a safe area. The present invention provides a turntable which permits complex operations to be performed as desired. The device has the further advantage of fiexibility in that the operator can move the container to any desired work station and is notrestricted to a fixed cycle of operations. The movements of the turntable both vertically and rotationally are accurately and surely controlled by the elevating and rotating mechanisms while the partitioning of the housing permits isolation of the highly contaminated area containing equipment such as the agitator which contacts the liquid in the container from the loading, weighing and turntable zones. In addition to the foregoing the turntable assembly is held firmly against rotation when in its raised position so that no danger of slipping exists at the several work stations.

We claim:

1. A remotely operable turntable assembly for handling radioactive material comprising a protective housing including a horizontal partition subdividing a portion thereof into an upper relatively uncontaminated zone and a lower relatively contaminated zone; a turntable disc within the lower zone mounted for rotational and vertical movement; a series of notches arranged at spaced intervals around the periphery of the turntable disc; at least one cradle supported by the turntable disc and arranged to receive a container; remotely operable pneumatically actuated means consisting of an air cylinder having a vertically movable piston connected with and supporting the turntable disc; said piston being constructed and arranged to raise and lower the turntable disc; a dowel pin depending from the horizontal partition and engageable with one of a series of openings in the turn table disc to prevent rotation thereof when in its raised position; a bearing plate supported below the turntable disc; a plurality of bearing blocks mounted on said hearing plate and arranged to limit downward movement of and to rotatably support the turntable in its lowered position; and turntable rotating means operable when the turntable is in its lowered position, said rotating means comprising a pawl engageable with said notches in the turntable disc and pneumatically operable means connected in driving relationship with the pawl.

2. A remotely operable turntable assembly for handling radioactive material comprising a protective housing including a horizontal partition subdividing a portion thereof into an upper relatively uncontaminated zone and a lower relatively contaminated zone; a turntable disc within the lower zone mounted for rotational and vertical movement; a series of notches arranged at spaced intervals around the periphery of the turntable disc; at least one cradle supported by the turntable disc and arranged to receive a container; remotely operable pneumatically actuated means consisting of an air cylinder having a vertically movable piston connected with and supporting the turntable disc, said piston being constructed and arranged to raise and lower the turntable disc; a dowel pin depending from the horizontal partition and engageable with one of a series of openings in the turntable disc to prevent rotation thereof when in its raised position; a bearing plate supported below the turntable disc; a plurality of bearing blocks mounted on said bearing plate and arranged to limit downward movement of and to rotatably support the turntable in its lowered position; and turntable rotating means operable when the turntable is in its lowered posi tion, said rotating means comprising a spring loaded rotating pawl engageable with said notches in the turntable disc, pneumatically actuated means connected in driving relationship with the rotating pawl, and a spring biased turntable holding pawl having a pin engageable with the turntable disc to prevent back rotation thereof when the rotating pawl is being withdrawn from its fully extended position.

3. A remotely operable turntable assembly for handling radioactive material comprising a protective housing including a horizontal partition subdividing a portion thereof into an upper relatively uncontaminated zone and a lower relatively contaminated zone; a turntable disc within the lower zone mounted for rotational and vertical movement; a series of notches arranged at equally spaced intervals around the periphery of the disc; a plurality of cradles supported by the turntable disc at equally spaced intervals and arranged to receive a plurality of containers; remotely operable pneumatic means connected with and supporting the turntable disc, said means including a piston connected with the turntable disc for raising and lowering the same; a vertical base member supporting the pneumatic means; a dowel pin depending from the horizontal partition and engageable with one of a series of openings in the turntable disc to prevent rotation thereof when in its raised position; a bearing plate supported on the base member below the turntable disc; a plurality of bearing blocks mounted on said bearing plate and arranged to limit downward movement of and to rotatably support the turntable in its lowered position; and turntable rotat ing means operable when the turntable is in its lowered position, said means being mounted on brackets secured to said base member and comprising a spring loaded rotating pawl engageable with said notches in the turntable disc, pneumatically actuated means connected in driving relationship with the rotating pawl, and a spring biased turntable holding pawl having a pin engageable with the turntable disc to prevent back rotation thereof when the rotating pawl is being withdrawn from its fully extended position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 616,737 Schuster Dec. 27, 1898 1,335,221 Christensen Mar. 30, 1920 1,386,299 Wright et al Aug. 2, 1921 1,567,126 Erion Dec. 29, 1925 2,515,086 Hess et a1 July 11. 1950 

1. A REMOTELY OPERABLE TURNTABLE ASSEMBLY FOR HANDLING RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL COMPRISING A PROTECTIVE HOUSING INCLUDING A HORIZONTAL PARTITION SUBDIVIDING A PORTION THEREOF INTO AN UPPER RELATIVELY UNCONTAMINATED ZONE AND A LOWER RELATIVELY CONTAMINATED ZONE; A TURNTABLE DISC WITHIN THE LOWER ZONE MOUNTED FOR ROTATIONAL AND VERTICAL MOVEMENT; A SERIES OF NOTCHES ARRANGED AT SPACED INTERVALS AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF THE TURNTABLE DISC; AT LEAST ONE CRADLE SUPPORTED BY THE TURNTABLE DISC AND ARRANGED TO RECEIVE A CONTAINER; REMOTELY OPERABLE PNEUMATICALLY ACTUATED MEANS CONSISTING OF AN AIR CYLINDER HAVING A VERTICALLY MOVABLE PISTON CONNECTED WITH AND SUPPORTING THE TURNTABLE DISC; SAID PISTON BEING CONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED TO RAISE AND LOWER THE TURNTABLE DISC; A DOWEL PIN DEPENDING FROM THE HORIZONTAL PARTITION AND ENGAGEABLE WITH ONE OF A SERIES OF OPENINGS IN THE TURN TABLE DISC TO PREVENT ROTATION THEREOF WHEN IN ITS RAISED POSITION; A BEARING PLATE SUPPORTED BELOW THE TURNTABLE DISC; A PLURALITY OF BEARING BLOCKS MOUNTED ON SAID BEARING PLATE AND ARRANGED TO LIMIT DOWNWARD MOVEMENT OF AND TO ROTATABLY SUPPORT THE TURNTABLE IN ITS LOWERED POSITION; AND TURNTABLE ROTATING MEANS OPERABLE WHEN THE TURNTABLE IS IN ITS LOWERED POSITION, SAID ROTATING MEANS COMPRISING A PAWL ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID NOTCHES IN THE TURNTABLE DISC AND PHEUMATICALLY OPERABLE MEANS CONNECTED IN DRIVING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE PAWL. 